Abstract

Estrogens and progestagens given in combination are finding wide clinical application as oral contraceptive agents by virtue of their ability to suppress ovulation. These agents mimic pregnancy in some of their effects; for example, they elevate the plasma levels of protein-bound iodine (1) and cortisol (2) without producing clinical evidence of thyroidal or adrenocortical overactivity. Pregnancy has a diabetogenic influence, and attention has previously been drawn to an impairment of glucose tolerance in women taking oral contraceptive agents (3, 4). This observation has now been extended by Wynn and Doar (5) to a group of 105 women who had taken